Which amp is better, Eden, Carvin or SWR?

I'm going to be purchasing a very loud amplifier in the next 2 weeks and I have narrowed it down to 3 brands. I was told to ask on here to get an honest response. Please help me out. I am looking for the best quality for a cheap price.

Quality-wise, Carvin is not in the same league with Eden and SWR. Of those two, I prefer Eden, but some like SWR. Carvin will give you more watts per dollar, but less tone per dollar. High quality and low price, while not always mutually exclusive, are not common bedmates.

OK, I'll be a contrarian, just because somebody has to. I think for some tastes, Carvin can *definitely* be in the same league as Eden or SWR. I know that's not the general party line, but that doesn't mean much to me: I go on what my own experience tells me. SWR hasn't done that much for me in a while, but I have owned both Eden and Carvin for extended periods. I like my WT400--which is an easily portable, very good sounding amp--but I once spent the better part of a morning comparing the WT400 with a Carvin R600 through a pretty neutral cab (Acme), and surprise surprise, the Eden was *not* clearly better--it did some things more nicely, but others not as well IMO. So it depends on what you like. IMO Eden versus Carvin certainly isn't Lexus versus Yugo, as some would have you believe. It's more a matter of taste.

Now, when it come to power--you say you want a very loud rig--you can indeed, as Munji says, get more for your dollar with Carvin. There's little doubt about that. You might especially want to check out their new B1500 amp. 1250 W @ 4 ohms, 1900 W @ 2 ohms. You aren't likely to get more power than that in a bass head for $800.

If you want very LOUD with good tone for little bucks, check out the yorkville stuff. Whoops carvin's ass, and is very well priced. Their 410s, which are -3db@41hz, also sleigh the red line 410, which has NO bottom at all. The heads are very loud for their ratings, similar to peavey's ratings. I'd definately check them out if I were you.

I currently have both Eden and Carvin heads and both are very giggable... The Eden is an older vt.40... pretty limited tone shaping, but then again it doesn't need much. Sounds good at pretty much any setting.

The Carvin's an older R600 head and I've never had a problem getting a great tone out of it. It can take more tweaking to find your tone right out of the box, but reading the manual and learning how the head works goes a long ways.

Playing each head into a single 1 X 15 cab, (I'm not a 10" guy), I go back and forth on which is my 'favorite'... Today, it's the Eden... Tomorrow??? For flat out loud playing, the Carvin into two 1 X 15 cabs wins...

Also, Ox has a point with the Yorkville stuff... While I wouldn't say that it blows Carvin out of the water, Yorkville's definitely a viable option for a low-price, good sounding rig... I just let go of an older Bloc 250B and it would put out 250 LOUD watts into 4 ohms all night long. Decent tone shaping... I'd be checking out some of the current stuff if I was in the market...

Eden and SWR, pretty much the same. (Except for the cheaper SWR's, not as good). Speakers are "okay" too (mostly Eminence last I heard), I don't like the sound of the tweeters in these cabs, nor do I like the treble sound and high end EQ on the amps. I've had pretty good luck using an outboard parametric though.

Carvin, not in the same league. "Okay" sounding, but unable to develop the full rated power in most cases. Crappy speakers last I checked (but that was over three years ago, maybe they've gotten better). Pretty reliable head, just not very great sounding (so's you'd notice).

Thanks alot guys. Ohhh and the reason why I didn't want an Ampeq is because of the price. I have a limited amount of money to spend. If an Ampeq were cheaper I would definitely get one if it were more than 700 watts and less than $1400. Thanks again guys and gals.